DIY Guide to Decluttering Your Northern Virginia Home

The new year causes many of us to reflect on the previous year and set goals to improve. For some, they decide to go to the gym more often or eat better. Others set work or professional goals to achieve.

This post is for the people who want to take back their homes from the clutter in the new year. Clutter often builds up slowly over time until you look around and wonder how it all got there. Fear not! There is a simple 3-step method to make it all go away.

Define Your Goals
Before beginning, you want to take the time to make a plan. Go through each room of your house and decide what needs to be done in each location. Track this either with pen and paper, or use something like Google Docs or Evernote to ensure you don't forget the details.

Once you know what has to be done, determine the priority of each area. Is your office overflowing with outdated paperwork? Are your kitchen cabinets bursting with cookware you never use? Decide which location will give you the most satisfaction when it is not full of clutter, and make that your #1 priority. Rank the other areas in relative importance from high to low.

The last (and often overlooked) part of goal-setting is choosing a timeline. If your kitchen is the first location to tackle, maybe you want to sort out all the old cookware by Sunday evening, so you can cook without the clutter through the workweek. Whatever the timeline is, make sure you stick to it so you complete the other items on your list.

Decide How to SortSorting as you go through the clutter is important. You can make your sorting process very simple by dividing everything you encounter into 3 categories: Keep, Trash, and Storage. 

Keep - these are items that you use on a regular basis that are functional or items that bring you joy. What does that mean? Anything that you can instantly recall the last time you used it and you know it works, keep it. If you have something that you would use if it wasn't broken, but it just sits on a shelf waiting for you to fix it for months and months, just get rid of it. An item that brings you joy could be anything from a sports jersey to a toy from your childhood to a family heirloom. These items might not be very practical, but their existence makes you happy.

Trash - If an item is broken and can't be easily fixed, trash it. If you haven't used something in over a year (and it's not a seasonal item), trash it. If you're keeping a horrible gift solely out of obligation to Great Aunt Mildred, trash it. Trashing it doesn't have to mean you fill endless garbage bags as you go through your house, however. Many items can be recycled or donated, or you could have a yard sale. 

Storage - For seasonal items, or for things with emotional significance that don't fit elsewhere in your home, storage is the way to go. Whether it's your own attic/basement storage, or you pay for a storage unit, take the time to organize what you store. Items that you pull out for holidays should be easily accessible. If you are keeping things because you plan to buy a larger house one day, those might not need to be as accessible.

Set Aside Time to Work
Even if it's only 15 minutes a day, or 1 hour on Saturdays, commit to that time. If you skip it, the clutter will stay. If you struggle with this, make it a game. Get someone to join you in the activity and make it a contest, or give yourself a reward for keeping to your schedule. However you do it, you just have to make sure that it gets done. The best reward to keeping to your schedule will be the new, clean look your home has when you are done. 

Thinking of selling a home in Northern Virginia in 2016? Contact Preferred Realty Partners today to get started.

5 Reasons to Buy a Home in Northern Virginia before the New Year

The New Year is approaching quickly, but there's still time for you to find your dream home in Northern Virginia this year. Many buyers take time off at the holidays if they haven't found a home, so for the serious buyer, it is an ideal time to ramp up the home search. Here are 5 reasons why you should buy a home in Northern Virginia before January:

#1: Competition is low
Serious buyers will be looking at homes no matter the time of year, through rain, sleet, snow, or hail. Not all buyers are serious, however, or at least not serious enough to keep up the same pace through the holiday season. If you are still actively searching around the holidays, you will be one of the few.

#2: Sellers are motivated
If a home is still on the market during the holidays, chances are it's been there for a while. Usually that means the house was overpriced for a time and missed the "sweet spot" to sell quickly. What that means for you is that you can get a great house that may have been overlooked when the market was hot, and you can get it at a lower price from the motivated seller.

#3: Rates are going up
Just this month, the Fed upped the mortgage rates for the first time since 2006, and every prediction has them going even higher in 2016. Secure a lower monthly payment for yourself by making an offer on a house now. Waiting for the spring market could cost you more than you realize.

#4: Inventory will go down
New Year's Eve brings about many thoughts for change in the new year, and many sellers decide that they will wait for the spring market to sell if they haven't sold their home in December. It serves you well to take the time to search for homes now before the inventory is too low and your selection is limited.

#5: Start the new year fresh
While it's important to make sure your new home meets your needs, it will also be a huge weight off your shoulders to know that you are under contract on your new home and well on your way to a brand new home for a brand new year. You will have beat the rush, earned a great value on the new house, and bought yourself some peace of mind. What a great way to start 2016!

Are you buying a home in Northern Virginia? Whether it's this year or next, contact Preferred Realty Partners to help you get the best value of the season!